Saturday, December 12, 2009

Readers: Bring back the Oscar podcasts already!Nathaniel: okay okay... here you go. Don't say we don't work hard for you.

Joe, Katey and I had a lengthy chat earlier in the week, which we've managed to widdle down to 59:59 and hope you enjoy. The topics are all over the place: Woody Harrelson in The Messenger, Marion Cotillard's Oscar journey (then and now), Up in the Air and the female point of view, the male preferencing of Oscar punditry, what the 10 wide list does to the long tail theory, The Lovely Bones and the 'science' of release dates, Sandra Bullock vs. Abbie Cornish, Jeremy Renner vs. Daniel Day-Lewis, Jason Reitman vs. Lee Daniels; So many topics scattered like kindling as we warm up. Next week, full blown fire as the Golden Globe and BFCA nominations hit (on the same day, natch. That's basically a symbol of how things go this time of year).

You can listen right herebut for the sake of my bandwidth expen$e$, if you'd be so kind, please subscribe and download from iTunes for the enhanced podcast. Or if you use a different player, click here. This costs me less money and you can take it with you wherever you go. Why shouldn't you obsess on the Oscar race during your commute or workout?

As per usual, the conversation isn't really complete until we hear from you. Sound off on anything we covered. And that's a lot.

@know nothing -- the craziest thing about the Julianne MOore episode is that she wasn't even the best part: I laughed so hard at the Jane Krakowski/Cheyenne Jackson confrontation that I missed the entire next scene because I couldn't stop.

Nathalien, so you don't lose your bandwith, what you could do is upload it to any downloading server, like rapidshare.com, megaupload.com, mediafire.com, sendspace.com, zshare.com... and that won't affect your bandwith and people could download it anyway.

Some months ago I downloaded one of your podcasts (one on the Golden Globes) to listen to in the subway on my way to an interview which would be partially in English. I wanted to listen to some real spoken English before the interview. The interviewers were clearly British though ;). But still, the English part was passed, they congratulated me for my English. :)

So, just to let you know these podcasts apart from funny can also be useful. I hope some positive feedback can compensate some occasional rude comments from your readers.

I have a sinking feeling that somehow, Marion Cotillard will be nominated in the supporting category by the Academy instead of being left out come nomination morning. I don't know whether it's my obsession with her or something else. But I can just see it going for her that way :o

as i said in the earlier post. i've never done anything on the internet more complicated than podcasting. Even things that appear to be a hundred times more difficult: building a whole website, making video collages, etcetera are simpler processes.

@Clarence -- but why is that a sinking feeling? She's great in the film. I wish they would just have left her where she belonged: supporting.

No worries Nathaniel. If it helps any iTunes is giving me an exclamation point when I try to download after subscribing. And when I tried your alternate link for other players it says the file is not there. So perhaps the podcasts just need to be uploaded again? In any case thanks for your effort.

I'm about to listen now! My ears are excited; last year's podcasts were one of my favourite things about winter.

Also, dear God, how funny was that 30 Rock? I had just been complaining to my family about how they seemed to have forgotten they'd hired Cheyenne Jackson before we began watching. BAM! There he is. BAM! "Holy crap, La Moore is on this week?!?" BAM! "How cute is she with her Bahstan accent?" BAM! YouFace (You-Face). BAM! Cheyenne Vs Jane ("It's not a Rage-Stroke"). BAM! My sides are literally aching.

Loved it. I especially liked how loose the conversation was. It was exciting to hear, say, Moon be mentioned organically over and over and over. Or hear Fergie starting "Be Italian" as a humorous segway. "That's a Bingo!" was fun, too.

You already know that I said Cotillard should campaign lead when I saw this over the summer. You also probably know how I've said she won't win lead, but she'd sweep supporting. I've seen Precious and still stand by this. Mo'Nique is powerful, but Cotillard is the heart of a big budget musical filled with beloved industry vets (and Fergie).

Oh, and I still call DDL winning Lead Actor. Since Coptley has no chance for District 9, there is no competition in my mind.

Oh, this just occurred to me, but if anyone makes it into Best Director without a Best Picture nomination, it could be Jane Campion. I could actually still see that happening with James Cameron, honestly.

It seemed like "Precious" was the 800-pound elephant in the conversation. Didn't you like the film, Nathaniel? It's always fascinating to me how white audiences talk about "Precious" and don't talk about it, and how something like "The Blind Side" is much more palatable in general. I totally get why, but it's still interesting. That really needs to be included in the part 2 convo!

Little bit late to the party, but I finally got around to listening to the podcast. What a treat! (I did miss Nick, though - just a small quibble). Laughed pretty thoroughly at Katey's "How many black people are we allowed to like?" and Joe's Susan Sarandon impression. Really lively discussion, thanks to you Nathaniel - I hope you realise all your hard work as Master of Ceremonies is most definitely appreciated!

Finally got around to listening to your podcast...my first one. I made the mistake of listening to it through headphones in a room of people, and attracted some odd looks when I kept muttering my reactions, as if the podcast included me in the conversation. "You're so mean, I loved Finding Neverland" or "I NEVER THOUGHT DDL WOULD BE A CONTENDER FOR NINE, EITHER!" Will definitely tune in for more, thanks. You guys rock.

Finally got around to listening to your podcast...my first one. I made the mistake of listening to it through headphones in a room of people, and attracted some odd looks when I kept muttering my reactions, as if the podcast included me in the conversation. "You're so mean, I loved Finding Neverland" or "I NEVER THOUGHT DDL WOULD BE A CONTENDER FOR NINE, EITHER!" Will definitely tune in for more, thanks. You guys rock. I also love how you inserted Hans Landa's "that's a biiiiiingooo!" twice into the podcast.

So I saw Up in the Air today for my birthday and honestly I wasn't really moved by it. I don't know whether or not I should have been though. It was really boring in the beginning and at the ending.

George Clooney was fine in the film but I didn't see it as anything special. I see it as Clooney being Clooney and nothing more.

Vera Farmiga was delightful and charming but other than that she doesn't do anything special for me when she graces the screen except when Ryan comes to Chicago, that's when I saw some depth in her character.

Anna Kendrick, I'm sorry, cannot and should not be EVER compared to a performance like Mo'nique's. Yes, her performance was spot-on when it comes to the stuck up, know-it-all, fresh-out-of-college attitude that her character embodies but I don't see her reaching the pinnacles of human clarity and depth that Mo'nique achieved. However, I was completely impressed with her when she had her breakdown upon receiving the text that she got dumped by her boyfriend. She showed a very childish side to the professionalism her character tries to portray.

Overall, I liked the touch of humor that you see throughout the movie, the lightness of the film's mood, but it doesn't really resonate with me in the way that it has for many critics.